[Kasept]

I can add a story that inadvertantly involves Chuck (Simon) before I got to know him. Summer of 2002 at Toga, Chuck had a hotwalker/groom that was a major character that ate daily with us at the Barbecue. He would only let Tanya (my g/f at the time) make his plate as 'she knows what I want'. She would pile cole slaw and beans on the plate and make him an enormous sandwich as we figured it was his only meal of the day as most of his money was going through the windows.

He started to ask to borrow $20 from me here or there mid-meet, and I was in for maybe $80 and even Barry contributed $50 as we got towards the last 10 days. He kept telling us that Chuck had a horse that was going to run before the meet ended and was a sure winner and that he was going to be a price and that he'd pay us back after making a big score on it...

The last week, he tells us the horse is running Friday and 'wouldn't lose'. I want to say the horse was the Ramsey's Nothing to Lose in his 2yo old debut. Sure enough, the horse wins, and Barry and I loaded up on him. I think he paid something like $34.00 and we had him $20 ATB and the exacta as well. We both took down $1,500 or so.

There is a sad coda to this though.. The next day, we see Chuck's guy when he comes to see if we caught the horse, and I thank him up and down. When I asked him how he did however, it turns out that he had blown his bankroll before the race and didn't have enough to really score out on the play. He said he'd pay us back at Churchill in the fall, but I told him he didn't owe us anything: he'd paid us back in spades with the tip. And I gave him another c-note as an added thank you.

We never saw him after that, and I asked Chuck and Cherie about him earlier this spring... I think they said his name was 'Bill' and he's still at Churchill working for another trainer...